US Ambassador Says US Supports the Reopening of Halki Seminary

Sam Brownback, the American Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, has stated that the United States will support the reopening of the Halki Theological School in Turkey. Brownback made the comments during an interview with the state-run AMNA news agency on Friday.

Brownback stated that the US has always supported the reopening of the seminary since it was shuttered by the Turkish authorities 48 years ago.

The American Ambassador At Large explained that he could not say exactly what progress has been made in this direction, but noted that the US continues to strongly support the reopening of the school.

The Theological School of Halki, also known as Halki Seminary, was founded in October 1844 on the island of Halki, the second-largest of the Princes’ Islands in the Sea of Marmara.

It served the Orthodox world for more than a century as the main theological school of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. It was shut down in 1971 following the passage of a Turkish law banning private institutions of higher education.